No matter how well you treat your plants, some of them may be attacked by a bacterial or fungal disease.  Left unchecked, such diseases can weaken or kill plants.  Even worse, the infection can spread through the garden and cause further damage.  That’s why it is important to be on the alert for signs of disease and to take immediate action when necessary.  Here are some guidelines for preventing and controlling bacterial and fungal infections using organic methods.

Keep garden clean

Plant debris can harbor all kinds of harmful bacteria.  Get rid of the debris and you will get rid of the source of bacterial infection.  It’s vital to keep the garden area cleared of dead leaves, flowers, and other organic matter that naturally builds up over time.  At the end of the growing season, you should do a big garden clean-up and then dispose of all leftover plant debris.  Material from healthy plants can be composted.  Material from sick plants should be disposed of in the garbage or burned to ashes, which can then be composted safely.

Keep tools clean

Dirty tools can be hazardous in the garden.  Bacteria or fungal spores from a sick plant can passed from one location to the next on a shovel or pruning shears.  You should clean and disinfect your tools often.  If you damage a plant with a garden tool, disinfect the implement before using it again.

Keep plants dry

Bacteria need a layer of water to infect the plant, and fungi multiply in damp conditions.  Therefore, it’s really important to keep plant foliage dry.  This means that you shouldn’t water from overhead.  Instead, use a soaker hose or other watering method that delivers water to the base of the plant.  Watering in this way is also less wasteful.  In addition, you should never handle plants while they are wet.  If fungi or harmful bacteria are present, they will be spread through the garden.

Plant a variety

Having a wide variety of plants, food crops, and trees in a garden is not only more interesting, it creates a more balanced eco-system.  A diverse garden will suffer fewer losses from pests or disease.  If one plant becomes sick, the disease is less likely to spread to the next plant if it is a different species.  Variety in planting is also important from year to year.  If an outbreak of disease has forced you to destroy some sick plants, you should grow something completely different in that spot the following year.

The old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is very applicable to organic gardening.  It’s better to prevent garden problems than to try to cure them.  You can’t possibly eradicate all the potentially harmful bacteria and fungi in your landscape.  However, following these precautions will go a long way towards keeping your plants vigorous and disease-free.